Twenty-five Ways
by thewaifu
Summary: Levi has been visiting some retro restaurant for the past two months, but it wasn't the food what brought him there. It was the bright eyed boy behind the counter. One day, he gets hired at the restaurant and his only thought is to get closer to Eren. Unfortunately for him, he has never had a crush before so he finds himself googling for 'ways to make your crush like you'.


"The order for table three is ready!"

"I got it."

The place was really crowded today, it was messy, we didn't even have enough employees for it so everyone was freaking out. I hated this job and it was only my first day working here. I hated this place. Being a waiter at a cheap retro restaurant wasn't exactly what I wanted to do with my life, but I had no other options than to put up with people's bullshit. Like when they suddenly decided to not tip you because you supposedly gave them a shitty service. Whatever, not as if I needed the money.

You might be wondering, why is this loser working at a place he hates if he doesn't need cash?

Well. I can answer that one.

Life sometimes has this way of surprising you, even if you didn't ask for it. Because I swear to god, I totally did not ask for this. Life likes to fuck everything up when you less expect it. Or call it destiny. Whatever name you decide to call it. I don't care. However, I cared about how I was head over heels for some bright-eyed dude. And as much as I disliked this job, I didn't dislike the idea of seeing him every day. Okay, every business day. Almost. Given that today, Monday, he had no shifts at night.

I knew his schedule, I've memorized it over the past two months. Call me a stalker if you feel like it, but that was the truth. I knew he only worked at noons, except for Fridays, he worked until midnight those days, he probably went to college or something. And so I tried to get my shifts to coincide with his, but with my _excellent_ luck I got a shift on Monday nights.

I've never had a crush before. I've never been in love. This was all new to me and I didn't know what to do at all. I wouldn't even be working here if Hanji would've keep their mouth shut about it. I just remember them calling me almost at midnight crying out about a 'now hiring' sign outside of a retro restaurant. Not that I blame them, it was my decision to apply for the job. I was very lost about this crushing-on-a-stranger thing. Now that I thought about it, probably it would've been easier to just ask him for his number. And I didn't even knew what I was going to do once I saw him tomorrow.

How do you even talk with you crush without embarrassing yourself or scaring him? Hello, I'm Levi and I've been stalking you for about two months. No way. I wasn't even going to ask him out or something, probably befriending him was a good idea. I mean probably the poor guy is straight or has a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend. Or didn't like me because I'm an insane idiot.

I wish I had never seen him, because my life has been spiraling out of control since it happened. And it just took a glance into those big eyes that were brighter than the fucking neon lights outside the restaurant. Just a glance and I was already feeling like I was back in high school.

In high school I had a couple girlfriends and boyfriends. I even dated Hanji, I was kind of a bigger idiot back then. However, I never developed strong emotions towards anyone, maybe just for Hanji and Erwin, but it was only a friendship thing.

Also this was my first job, because as I stated before I didn't need it. I attend Sina University and my parents give me almost everything I need. They pay for my studies, so I can invest all my time on them. But instead, I'm here losing my hours over a boy with a cute smile. And cute eyes. And cute hair. And adorable laugh. And lovely voice.

_Shit._

As lost in my thoughts as I had been, I dropped the aluminum tray with food that had been in my hands just a couple of seconds ago. Okay, whose damned idea was it to include rhythm skates in the uniform?

Almost everyone at the establishment was looking in my direction and I was about to freak out. There was milkshake spilled over the black and white tiled floor. Fucking. Fuck. Bitch. I was going to get fired in my first day and I didn't even get to meet Eren. Eren is his name. He wore a tag with it over his pink uniform always. He looked adorable in that uniform.

"Oh my god, Levi!" A high pitched cry came out of a petit blonde girl, Christa, it was written on his tag. "Let me help you before the manager notices!"

"No, it's-"

"Close your mouth and help me to clean this mess up!" She was already kneeling on the floor and wiping the pink stuff with a rad. "You don't want to get fired, do you?"

I shrugged and lifted the tray from the ground along with the glasses, which luckily hadn't broken. I sighed as I rushed myself to the counter, getting two more milkshakes in the tray and six dollars discounted from my paycheck.

After that, the day went over peacefully and the place was not longer crowded. I thanked Christa before finishing my shift and leaving. I walked all the way to my home, which was only five minutes from the restaurant. I took my phone out as soon as I was inside of my department and checked for the hour, it was eleven p.m.

My place was silent and calm. And I liked it.

I headed to my couch and laid down on it. As soon as I shut my eyes closed, my phone was already ringing, breaking the silence. I frowned as I straightened, taking my phone from the table and asking myself who the fuck dared to call me. I read the name on screen and groaned as I answered the call.

"Hanji what the everloving shit do you want?" I snapped.

"Levi! How was your first day at work?"

"It was _great_. I got the time of my life cleaning repulsive tables, of course."

"Well, you love cleaning. Don't you?"

"Kind of. But not those gross tables." I grimaced at the memory of chewed bubblegum under the tables. Why did people do that? I'm pretty sure there were enough trashcans in the restaurant.

"Whatever, you grumpy midg-"

"I'm hanging up." I warned them, most of the time they didn't know when to shut their mouth.

"Wait! Wait! How did everything went with the cutiepie?"

"He wasn't there, I kind of forgot he doesn't have shifts on nights unless it's Saturday."

"Aww, my poor baby," they said in a honeyed voice, "Are you going to ask him on a date?"

I lifted my free hand and pinched the bridge of my nose with my index finger and my thumb. God, they could be so annoying. I mean, it's okay that they care. I accepted long time ago that they liked to get their nose on stuff that was none of their business, but sometimes it was frustrating.

"What the fuck? No." I left an exasperated sigh out as I leaned back on the couch. "No. I'm not going to. I want to start slow, become his friend or something. And maybe he's not like he's behind the counter, maybe he's a major jerk."

"A major jerk with a cute face."

Oh. That. I've invited Hanji and Erwin to the restaurant a couple times, at the beginning they thought that I was just being kind with them, but they quickly caught on. So big mistake, because Hanji insisted to eat at that shitty place everyday, I couldn't complain tho.

"Jesus Christ, Hanji. I'm really hanging up. I've got stuff to do."

"Right, right. See you tomorrow, Levi!"

I hung up without replying and got up from the couch to get some college shit done. Not that I had a problem with it. I was doing pretty good on school, perfect grades and all. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I received help from Erwin, he was the valedictorian of course. And well, Hanji. Hanji also helped a lot. I didn't needed much help, but I got really stressed with tests, so as the great friend they are, they helped me to calm the fuck down and to actually get myself to study.

When I was done half-assing some essay, which I would have to check the next morning because right now I was so tired that I couldn't bring myself to give some fucks into the matter, I stood up from my chair and organized the papers over the desk to then walk towards my bathroom and take a relaxing and well deserved ice-cold shower.

As soon as I dressed on my white silky pajamas, I brushed my teeth, since I had have dinner at the restaurant. I didn't like their food, not after two months eating there, but it was better than cooking something. Next thing, the lights were off and I was laying in my bed craving for some sleep.

I was too nervous to sleep. I was thinking about Eren. About how everything would go tomorrow. Would I embarrass myself? Would he think I'm a freak? Would he notice I had been kind of stalking him? Was he straight?

At the beginning I thought, hey it might not be that bad, but I knew that there were plenty of chances that I would screw everything up. But I couldn't really care about that, I mean the boy was worth it. He has that smile that's brighter than the stars, but his eyes were even brighter. I thought of us being more than friends, I know that wasn't okay. But I couldn't help myself. Thinking of lame cheesy things like holding hands or going out on cliché dates made me feel some kind of blubbing in my chest. Like the sticky sweet bubbles from the soda at the restaurant.

How do you even befriend someone? How do you get someone to romantically like you? I groaned against my pillow, muffling the sound.

Why was all of this so complicated?

And it got more complicated, I could already feel the fear creeping into my thoughts and replacing the fluttering in my chest with painful pangs. Maybe it wasn't a good idea. Hell, maybe it was a really bad idea. What if he actually ended up liking me? Wouldn't that be selfish? I don't know how to keep up with relationships, almost everyone I dated ended up hating me. Sorry for having communication problems and hurting every single one of you without wanting to.

It was something that just kind of happened. I couldn't comfort people or be there for them. Christ, I couldn't even have a normal conversation with someone without getting nervous or just making it all weird. Who would want to bond with someone that can't even make small talk with a hairstylist? I'm pathetic.

Whatever. I couldn't get more than two hours of sleep that night.

* * *

_'How much longer will it take to cure this?_  
_Just to cure it cause I can't ignore it if it's love._  
_Makes me wanna turn around and face me but I don't know nothing 'bout love.'_

I whined at the sound of my alarm going off with Accidentally in Love, I was a helpless romantic. I extended my hand to stop the annoying sound and got up from the bed, closing my eyes for an instant and feeling the nerves growing in my stomach. Today I will actually meet him. But it was just only seven o'clock, meaning I had two hours before Hanji and Erwin came to pick me up.

The first thing was taking a shower, a quick one, because I was running out of time. I had a lot of stuff to do in just two hours. I made sure to make myself tidy, as tidy as I could make myself. After that, I dressed in my normal clothes, just bleached jeans and a black button up with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow. I stood in front of the mirror, combing my hair and styling it as much as I could.

Would Eren like my weird haircut? Would he find it dumb or hot? What kind of shampoo does he use? How does his hair smell? Does he actually smell like greasy food or it's just because of the restaurant? If that's so, how does he actually smell? Does he take care of his hygiene? Does he even wash his hair?

I sat on the chair in front of the desk, unable to finish the essay, I would have to ask Erwin for help in this one. I couldn't concentrate, my mind was betraying me, making me just think about that guy with his fucking kaleidoscope eyes. I whimpered as I closed Word Office and opened a new tab in Chrome. I could feel my face heating up as I typed in the Google's search bar.

'_ways to make your crush like you_'

This was stupid, very very stupid. I clicked on one of the links below, avoiding WikiHow because they never knew shit. The first thing in the page was an image of a girl wearing a pink dress, followed by the title,_ '25 Ways To Make Your Crush Like You'._ I scrolled down reading some text about daydreaming, crushes, and tips. I spent nearly twenty minutes reading every single one of the twenty-five ways. Hey, this is me, the biggest loser on Earth. I bookmarked the site and closed the lid of the laptop.

Next thing was to make some breakfast, nothing too complicated, just milk and scrambled eggs. Not that I knew how to cook another thing. After eating, washing the dishes, and brushing my teeth, I picked up my backpack, checked ten times if I wasn't missing anything and waited in the living room for Hanji to knock the door.

And there it was, their noisy and loud way of knocking the door. I walked towards the door and opened it, Hanji was standing there with a grin. A grin that would be scary if I didn't knew them. Although they didn't say anything, we just walked ourselves outside of the building and into Erwin's car. Erwin was at the driver's seat and Hanji made their way to the passenger's one, leaving me to sit at the back seats.

"You're finally seeing him today!" The abomination with glasses said.

"I've been seeing him almost daily for the past two months, Hanji."

"Oh, didn't you see Eren yesterday?" Erwin questioned while stopping at a red light.

I shifted uncomfortably in the seat, scowling at them.

"No, he doesn't have shifts at night. Whatever, I don't want to talk about this. I'm nervous enough as it is."

"N'aaawh, poor hopeless boy in love."

"Eyebrows, the light's already green, move, I don't want to be late." I said rolling my eyes, trying to downplay the conversation.

"Ah, and here I was thinking that love would change you." Erwin said pressing the accelerator pedal and shifting gears.

In a couple minutes we were already at Sina's campus, we had very different schedules and classes since we all were majoring at different fields. While Hanji was majoring in some science shit, Erwin was majoring in International studies, and I was majoring in Economics, because it was my one and only choice.

I won't talk you about the shitboring classes I had, because nothing out of the common happened. Just lectures, lunch with the freaks I called friends, and the usual stress. Not to forget that I had to beg one of my teachers to give me more time to get the essay done because I, of course, forgot to ask Erwin for help. By the time the classes were over, it was already three p.m. I had to walk fifteen minutes since Erwin was busy and I wouldn't trust Hanji with my life, not if they were at the wheel.

I arrived and tried once again to get the goddamned essay done, realizing then that I had only ten minutes to change myself into the ridiculous pink uniform of the restaurant and get there. I could feel my heart racing at an abnormal speed and hammering against my chest, I swear I could be having a heart attack. When I was dressed and made sure everything was in order, I left my place and began to walk to the restaurant.

I took a deep breath before making my way into the place, my hands trembling when I pushed the door open and walked, trying to not look at the counter's direction and avoiding by all ways eye-contact with Eren. I felt like I was going to throw up at any moment. Today was the day. I couldn't fuck up like I always did.


End file.
